Jenny (00:28)
Today I'm sitting down with past six-figure flower farming student Amanda Keene from Flowers on Phoenix to talk about what it actually looks like to build a flower farm around the life that you want, instead of letting the farm take over your entire life, which is very easy to let happen. So we're gonna talk about why she's growing fewer types of flowers and being very selective about which ones, the marketing strategy that surprised her,
The changes she's made to protect her time and profitability, and what she wishes she'd done differently from the beginning. So let's jump in.
Jenny (01:03)
Amanda, thank you for being here today. For anybody who isn't familiar with Flowers on Phoenix, can you just give us like a 30 second rundown about your farm, your family and what the business looks like today?
Amanda Keene (01:16)
yeah, so we started out as a UPIC farm. we have really changed a lot since we started. I'm getting into more workshops and weddings and I also do flower preservation and we are a homeschool family also of sixteen years, so I also incorporate as many educational opportunities and you know workshops for people that want to learn and
I wanna get the family involved as much as possible. I think that's really important. and we have like we had talked about before, we have eleven ducks that are always part of everything we do. But and we have three kids in it. Busy busy. Not by
Jenny (02:03)
I l like I told you before. sorry. Say the
one more time, what did you just say? Sorry, I interrupted interrupted you.
Amanda Keene (02:11)
I said
we have we have three kids and I've been married for twenty three years and my husband is a huge support for me. but I mean that's kind of I guess that's kind of the gist of it.
Jenny (02:25)
Awesome. what made you kind of shift from starting out just doing UPix to now kind of doing more of these like more private workshops and weddings and events and stuff?
Amanda Keene (02:37)
so when we started we did just UPICS and you know that first year went by and we looked at our numbers and we're like, well this isn't gonna be sustainable for us. We're in a really rural area and our area that we have is you know it's it's small, people are really spread out and
you know, you're talking about in your class, you know, the disposable income of people around you and stuff and it's not a it's not a large amount, you know, so you kinda have to scale in that way. but UPIC wasn't going to sustain us. So I started doing subscriptions, and
Then also I I did my first wedding, my first year in business, and I really enjoyed it. And I kind of from that point on I kind of had in the back of my mind I really wanted to do weddings. but I I was stuck on I have to grow everything if I wanted to be successful. And I have found out that there's a lot of other growers around and I I gotta rely on other people and I can't do it all myself. And it just stretches us.
so thin. as a mom and homeschool mom and wife and I can't do it all. So I have, you know, left that burden sort of and I'm trying to focus on the flowers that give us the most profitability and not necessarily the ones I enjoy growing the most but trying to get those you know growing the ones that are most profitable and I can still
grow flowers like I want to, but yet still go this other route that is going that is proving to make, you know, more money for us. and also it's enjoyable and it's a niche that I never thought I'd really be in. but it's something that I I've been doing for a long time. Like drying flowers, preserving flowers and just that create the creativity side. I've been doing it for a long time and I just
Never thought I was good enough to like make money at it.
Jenny (04:52)
That's so crazy that you say that. And I but I think a lot of people can probably relate to what you're saying right now and well to a lot of what you just said, honestly. And I love that you don't put all that pressure on yourself to grow anything and everything and allow yourself to buy in from other places because I think that alone takes off so much pressure. And remind me again, how big of a growing area do you grow on?
Amanda Keene (05:20)
So we have eighteen acres, but I'm only using a tenth of it.
Jenny (05:25)
So one tenth of an acre?
Amanda Keene (05:27)
One tenth of our yes, yes. Yep. Tiny
Jenny (05:30)
Okay, so like f forty three fo
so like forty three hundred square feet. So yeah.
Amanda Keene (05:35)
Yeah, right about five
right about five thousand square feet, including our tunnel, our high tunnel.
Jenny (05:40)
Okay. So small. And that's this is another misconception that we hear all the time is that even if you're really, really tiny, really, really small, this isn't something that you can you know, like earn good money at. And I just think it's like total BS because you're an example right here. you're doing
Amanda Keene (05:55)
Yeah. Well,
Jenny (05:56)
it.
Amanda Keene (05:57)
exactly. I've had a couple of people come out and be like, This is a farm. yes, it is.
Jenny (06:05)
Yes.
Amanda Keene (06:06)
If you could see how many plants you can plant in that
amount of square space you would be blown away and it's not just the amount of plants it's the right plants to plant because if you have plants that produce multiple times like rununculus and dahlias and zinnias and gomfrina those are things that you like we plant you know I don't plant a ton of gomfrina because it goes crazy and I can cut on a small section of it and have plenty to work
with for fresh flowers and dried flowers and if I had any more I think I'd go crazy because I wouldn't
Jenny (06:47)
Ha ha
Amanda Keene (06:48)
know what to do with it all. I mean I would try to cut it all but I don't have anybody else that works for us so it's me cutting it all. My sixteen year old sometimes is helping me cut too but it's mostly me and then you know when people come out to to you pick. But
It it doesn't take a huge space and if you have more space, that's more space you have to manage. And if I had more space, I would be stretched so thin that it just wouldn't work. And so my husband, you know, is constantly telling me, you know, make sure that you don't get don't get too big, don't get in too deep, because you want to be able to manage what you have and you want to be able to do really well with what you have instead of planting a lot of stuff and then
Having waste. You don't, you know, you don't want a lot of waste.
Jenny (07:37)
Yes.
Amanda Keene (07:39)
So I've cut back on a lot of flowers that I you know I liked, but they weren't doing their job. And I try to only plant things that I can use multi-purposely, like you know, gomfrina, you can use fresh, you can use it dry, dahlias you can dry, ranunculus, you can dry. If they don't have two purposes, they get cut out. Like I don't want them because they are pretty, but
But they just don't serve a purpose for me, you know. So
Jenny (08:10)
Absolutely. And so, you know, it's funny. Before you took six-figure flower farming, I remember you saying something. I don't remember if it was like in your intake forum or or a conversation we had, but you I know you said something about like you were growing way too many things. I I need to stop so many different growing so many different kinds of flowers, and that you wanted to focus on the ones that gave you the best return on investment, not just the flowers that you personally liked. So I'm curious,
Amanda Keene (08:37)
Yes.
Jenny (08:38)
after kind of going through
six figure flower farming and you really looking at your numbers, how has understanding your numbers and what that looks like changed how you decide what to grow and give space to on your farm?
Amanda Keene (08:56)
Status is one example. Like I I really like status but it it just doesn't it doesn't make enough for me to keep it in its real estate spot. Like what we have is like we all have real estate and if you think of it as in that respect you want to have
really pretty things in your growing area but it better make a lot of money because if not it's not it just it won't work. So status was one that I really, really liked and it had dual purpose but it wasn't making enough per stem and it didn't matter if I put it in a bouquet or sold it, you know, to a wholesaler. It just wasn't it just wasn't making enough money for me.
And it just wasn't worth keeping. So I, you know, I this year I grew a little bit of status just because it was like one of those last last straws. I was gonna try it one last time. And if it didn't do its thing this year, it's out. I'm done. And this year, I'm done.
Mm-hmm.
Jenny (10:13)
Sorry, I just dropped my microphone somewhere in the middle of you saying that. But but I was
Amanda Keene (10:16)
I No, that's okay. That's okay.
Jenny (10:19)
laughing at the status being done. I could totally relate to that because there are certain flowers that I have the same experience with where I like kind of kept growing like adjuratum for me, which was actually
Amanda Keene (10:30)
Yeah.
Jenny (10:30)
like a very prolific crop, but like there's just so many annoyances with it. And like kept growing it, kept growing
Amanda Keene (10:36)
Yes.
Jenny (10:37)
it. And then finally one year I was just like, why do I keep doing this to myself? And I just
Amanda Keene (10:42)
Yes.
Yeah.
Jenny (10:42)
Cut it. So, so it sounds like you've
made a lot of decisions over time based on like whether you were actually getting a return from that or
not.
Amanda Keene (10:54)
Yeah.
Jenny (10:54)
Like when when you first started your business, would you say that you were still you were thinking that way, or is this like a a mindset that has changed over the years for you?
Amanda Keene (11:06)
It
it's a mindset that has changed because when I first started, you know, when you start something new, it's all it seems like it's all sunshine and rainbows and you're like, I want to grow this and this and this and this because all these things are pretty and and they were. But they were taking more of my time and anything that you put time into
if you don't get a r you know a a return on it, it's it's not worth your time. It's the same with raising kids. You put time in your kids and you put time in their education with like schooling and stuff like that, like I'm doing, you will see the fruit of your labor. it's and when you slack at something, you will notice. And I
something that has changed for us this year, especially last couple of years actually, with farming is I have to cut back on certain flowers because those flowers are sucking my time. And
Jenny (12:05)
Hmm.
Amanda Keene (12:06)
my time is more valuable to my family and my kids than to my business. And I and that's maybe that's just me, but I have to keep that mindset as I want to make sure that my priorities are kept like they were before I ever started
flower farming and they were wife, mom, homeschool mom first and then my business. And I want to make sure that, you know, when my kids are all grown and gone, they're not looking back thinking, mom left us for the flower farm, you know.
Jenny (12:41)
Right.
Amanda Keene (12:41)
You know, I you know, I have spent a lot of time these last few years trying to grow this business and I th this last year has been just a hit for me and I want I have shifted so many things because I have to cut back on certain areas that are taking my time and I have to take those things and put them back where they were before so that our family is like it was before.
for because it not only stresses a mom out, it stresses your family out, it stresses your kids out, it stresses your, you know, whoever else is helping you too. You know, my husband, he works forty hours a week and then he comes home and helps me. And it's you know it's tiring on us all
Jenny (13:31)
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Jenny (14:49)
one of the things you said was that you know, it doesn't the business doesn't just affect the business and you, it affects everybody, it affects your family. And I think this is kind of a hard truth that we have to accept that when you own a small business.
It is like an extension of your life. And when you have things inside of the business that are not going well, that are stressing you out, like it is really hard. I would say almost impossible for most people to like completely separate that from your relationships and your family and everything else you have going on in your life. So I love that you actually are prioritizing, you know, making the business more efficient and
Only giving your time to things that really deserve it so you can have that life outside of it and and be there for your family. So I'm curious what exactly are you doing differently now, maybe in terms of efficiency? Like if you compare the way you were running Flowers on Phoenix years ago, like before we met through six-figure flower farming, and how you're running it now, what are some of the things you're actually doing differently?
Amanda Keene (15:58)
Well, one thing is I am not digging my dahlias up in the fall. that was
Jenny (16:04)
Okay, tell us more.
Amanda Keene (16:06)
that was something that three years ago now, my husband was like, W I forget what happened, but it was like something happened with
a s like our family and was like we don't have time to do this. We have to just let it go and it was one of those things where I was like, I'm gonna lose it all if I don't dig up and he's like, Let's just cover up, let's put up you know, tarps over we'll cover we'll try we'll do our best to keep and those dogged things came up the next spring perfectly. And I was
Jenny (16:41)
What zone are you in?
Amanda Keene (16:43)
six B, we're right in the middle of Missouri.
and
I don't remember you know what the winter was like that year or anything and I had early dahlias in like by Memorial Day. And also when you have a product that's early, then the price can be higher, you know, if you're selling to florists, which I do, and now those florists know okay, she's gonna have early dahlias because she leaves them in the ground. And so then I can have an early product and that may
not work every single year. You know, I lost several last year and but I also left them in the ground last year and then dug them up this spring and divided them. And that saves me time on digging them all the f in the fall.
That saves me time in finding a place for them to be stored. Now I know that larger farms can't do that. You know, if you're growing thousands and thousands of dahlias, you have to dig them, you have to divide them, especially if you're selling tubers. And for the last couple of years, I haven't sold tubers. I we've done a work we did a workshop last year in how to overwinter tubers. And so I, you know, I dug some for that class, but other than that, I didn't dig anymore. I just left them in the ground.
Jenny (18:04)
That's
awesome.
Amanda Keene (18:04)
But that
has been a really big time saver for me, is leaving them in the ground.
And then in the spring I can dig ones I want to dig and then I c or I can leave them in and I have plenty for what I am doing with them and who I'm selling them to and it saved me a lot of time and I just I was like why didn't I do this before? I spent so much
Jenny (18:29)
Ha ha
Amanda Keene (18:30)
time digging the silly things and making sure I cut them at the exact angle and you know storing them perfectly and it just you know sometimes I mean nature will make things
So that was just
Jenny (18:43)
Yeah.
Amanda Keene (18:44)
but I'm trying to think of another one, but
Jenny (18:49)
Well,
I I saw on your Instagram you had made a post about it was your ranunculus and how you used to plant in the winterti maybe this isn't really an
Amanda Keene (18:59)
Mm.
Jenny (19:00)
efficiency, but you used to plant in the fall, but then you started planting in the spring and you actually got really, really good results doing that. And this was easier on you because like you didn't have to
baby them throughout the winter winter and everything. And you said in that post like being more efficient with my time is number one. And like it it that's another great example too.
Amanda Keene (19:25)
Yeah, so like Renunculus and it's it really is d depending on y you know, your farm and what your goal is for your farm. And I
I've done it both ways. I've planted in the fall and I've had a really good crop really early and I have planted in the spring and like had the same results. And I'm like, why did I spend so much time in the fall? And they're you know, they were in the tunnel. And so going out there and dumping snow and making sure they don't freeze and you know in the in the winter time you've got moles and voles and every other little critter that wants to bury in the ground.
and eat all your plants because they're hungry. So you're just basically planting a buffet, at least we are.
Jenny (20:14)
Ha ha
Amanda Keene (20:15)
And so I'm like, I can't do this because I lost a lot one year that I planted in the fall and maybe I just didn't know what I was doing. But that particular year we had a lot of snow and I was constantly going out there and dumping snow off the tunnel and it was just, you know, I I didn't want to do that. And my husband and I like to try to take a vacation in January when things are
really slow and
Jenny (20:40)
Mm-hmm.
Amanda Keene (20:40)
that is important to us and our family because it's time for us to get away and when you have a flower farm and you have a spouse it is a lot of work on both of you and it's important to you know keep as much as I want my business to succeed my marriage is more important and I want to make sure that I am doing as much as I can to
keep you know keep no the fire going or whatever you want to say. But you know, I wanna make sure that well, yeah, but I wanna make sure
Jenny (21:13)
Not get divorced.
Amanda Keene (21:17)
that
You know, I'm doing everything that we can can do to keep normalcy, I guess, and take a vacation when we want to and just go have fun as a family and not work all the time. You know, there's time to work and there's time to play and have fun. And you gotta make sure that you separate those things, otherwise you're just gonna I don't know, I just don't wanna work my life away, I guess.
Jenny (21:43)
No, I n I don't think that most people do. Or you like reach a point in your life where I don't know, like when I was younger, I I just worked nonstop. I didn't like when I was in my twenties, I worked seven days a week, 14 hours a day, and I loved it. But then you
Amanda Keene (21:54)
Yeah, me Yes. Yeah. Yep.
Jenny (22:00)
know, you reach a certain point or when you have a family, when you you just you don't want to do that anymore. And I don't think it's
Amanda Keene (22:07)
Right.
Jenny (22:07)
worth it. Like like you
We take a vacation every January. And I honestly don't know what I would do if we didn't do that because we have so many core memories of me and my husband, and me and my husband and my son now.
Amanda Keene (22:20)
Yes. Yes.
Jenny (22:23)
And and now my dad and my brother come with us. And it's like those memories would have never been made if I was like, no, I have to be home for the flower farm. Like we have rent like for us, we have plants in the
Amanda Keene (22:34)
Yeah.
Jenny (22:35)
ground in our high tunnels. And like when we go, I'm always like.
Say a little prayer. Hope you guys survive. See ya in a week or two. But it's like you can't
Amanda Keene (22:40)
Yeah. Right, right.
Jenny (22:43)
you cannot be like this, like a martyr for for your
Amanda Keene (22:47)
Right.
Jenny (22:47)
business. Like the business serves to serve the business exists to serve you and your family, right? So I love that about
Amanda Keene (22:55)
Right.
Jenny (22:55)
you and that and that you prioritize that because I think that's what most people want, but they sometimes have a hard time.
figuring out how to get there. So what would you say are like the biggest things that helped you get to this place where you do have that with your business?
Amanda Keene (23:18)
I'm not trying to think.
I don't know. I'm like
Jenny (23:26)
Is it like focusing on like profitability, like you were saying before, like making sure every flower is earning its keep? Is it just having boundaries, like deciding like this business is going to make money? And if it doesn't, like there's something else has to happen. Cause it sounds like you've made a lot of decisions around that kind of stuff over the past couple of years.
Amanda Keene (23:48)
I'd say both of those. just making sure that if like being efficient. I'm really practical. I'm really plain. Like I want things to work and I want I don't want to spend a lot of extra time doing stuff if I don't have to. And efficiency is really important and
Like yeah, like you said, just if it doesn't if it doesn't have a dual purpose or if it's not gonna be profitable then there's no for us it there's no sense in growing it. and I guess having the business what do I wanna say using other flower farms to help with your
with your growing and not needing to do it all yourself has also been I think really helpful.
Jenny (24:41)
Love that. Now, before we met, it sounded like from what you said when you joined our program when we met you, it sounded like you were feeling like burnt out already, and you were really trying to figure out a way to make the farm more profitable. I'm curious what made you to decide at that point that you really needed to learn more about.
like the business side of flower farming aside from just like growing pretty flowers.
Amanda Keene (25:16)
it was just I didn't feel like I was it was profitability. I I wanted to be able to make money at what I was putting all my time and energy into and
you know, you can grow so many different things and spend so much time on all of those things and put a beautiful bouquet together. But if it doesn't sell, you know, like, what's the what's the point, I guess? It it you know, it would be okay, y I can put it on my table and enjoy it myself, but,
I just wanted I wanted to be more efficient and I wanted to better myself and just to I guess do better at what I had started. that's making sense.
Jenny (26:02)
Yeah.
Amanda Keene (26:05)
and
I was just doing too much. I just had too much on my plate. You know, like when you put food on your kids plate and you put too much and it starts to run into one another and they don't want anything touching. And
I feel like my plates like that and I need to take some of that stuff off so that I've got it sectioned off a little bit better and I don't want my stuff running into one another anymore. I I just it was too much stress on myself. I wasn't getting enough rest. It was stressing, you know, our whole family out. And if you ask my kids, they'd be like, flowers were everywhere. So you know and so I just needed to cut back and focus on things that were
really worth my time as far as on the business side.
Jenny (26:54)
Right. I love that analogy, by the way, with things on your plate touching, like we don't want the broccoli touching the mashed potatoes. We need some space.
Amanda Keene (27:00)
yeah. They can't yeah. They all go in one pla they all go to the same place, but it doesn't ma
Jenny (27:07)
My kid doesn't care. Well, yeah. He's he's only three, but he's just like, I don't care. I'll eat anything and everything.
Amanda Keene (27:12)
Yeah.
Jenny (27:14)
I'm I'm maybe most three year olds aren't like that. Maybe he's weird, but yeah, I love that. And I I think that it is something people
need to prioritize even early on in their business. And I know you said like budgeting and like profitability were particularly helpful for you to kind of like hone in on and kind of work out some of the kinks with that. what would you say when you sat down to really figure out the profitability and the budgeting piece around your business? Was there anything that like surprised you or any decisions that you guys made
Or did differently after sitting down and getting really serious about looking at that.
Amanda Keene (27:59)
It wasn't really anything that surprised us 'cause we could see what was selling better, I guess. like Rununculus and Dahlia's are the two biggest ones for us. And my husband's like, Can you just please grow those two? Just just do those two. That
Jenny (28:13)
Ha ha ha
Amanda Keene (28:15)
would help out a lot. And this year, I'm doing a lot more run rununculus than I've ever done and we're cutting out a lot of other different varieties, because that is one that is a
really profitable flower. and I think that I wish I had a learned that a long time ago. I wish I would have known that you don't have to grow fifty different varieties. It's what Instagram puts in our heads. And
Jenny (28:48)
Mm-hmm. It it really is.
Amanda Keene (28:50)
It's you know, and I I I went down that stupid rabbit hole of trying to think, well, if I don't have this and this and this and this, mine's not going to be good enough and nobody's gonna want to buy my product. But if I have a bundle of rununculus, they're gorgeous alone.
I don't need anything else. And I that was a hard lesson for me to learn. And last year I tried it on some customers and you know, what do you think about buying just Rununculus this next year? And they were like, We love Rununculus, you know, we would love to buy just Rununculus. I'm like, well then what the heck am I doing with all these other flowers? If if this would be the one that I could focus on, like you had said in your class, get your fingers out of all the other things that are taking.
Taking up your time and focus on the one that you can do really well and that you know like that fits our lifestyle more so instead of making our life fit around the business and try to work all of our life into the business, reverse it and make the business fit your lifestyle better. And it was like, I don't know why I didn't why I didn't do this years ago, because it would have relieved a lot of stress on all of us, I think. But sometimes lessons have to be
learned and you have to just learn them the hard way I guess.
Jenny (30:15)
Yeah, absolutely. And there's two things you said I wanna come back to. The first one I just wanna say
Amanda Keene (30:20)
Mm-hmm.
Jenny (30:21)
I love that you talked to your customers about this. This is also
Amanda Keene (30:24)
Yes.
Jenny (30:25)
something we talk about inside of six-figure flower farming, but like it sounded like when you weren't sure if this would work, just selling straight bunches of Rununculus, like you just asked them and you got
Amanda Keene (30:37)
Yeah.
Jenny (30:37)
a pretty good idea. And so I love that because I think a lot of people are afraid.
To talk to their customers and ask them direct questions, but like they'll tell you.
Amanda Keene (30:46)
Yeah, they will. And you
know what? People want to they want their opinion known. And like
Jenny (30:51)
Yes.
Amanda Keene (30:51)
they want you to know what they think. And so I will, you know, sometimes do it on Facebook and be like, hey, give me an opinion on this or this or this. Vote. Have people vote. They love to vote. And I will just send out emails to my customers. I'll also send out, you know, messages, you know, through Facebook Messenger and stuff, hey, I'm doing a survey this weekend. Can you tell me blah blah blah?
And they're more than happy to help. And I would say 90% of the people that I've ever sold flowers to have my personal phone number or they will text me through Facebook Messenger if they need flowers. Like and it does it. Some people will text me at 10 o'clock at night and I'm like, I can't get you flowers right now. But
We have a really good relationship. And that's something that is really important that I didn't think about in the beginning either is to just establish those really good relationships and just be you know, you can be a business, but you can also be a friend to people. And you know, especially with you pick, we when we started inviting people to our property to pick flowers, we were building relationships at that point. And I've already had two people at the very first
year that we were pick having people come out, I've already done their weddings. And so when you have one customer at the very beginning, it's a really good chance you'll have that customer multiple times, you know, later on. And just establishing those really good relationships with people, I would say, is I mean, it's part of sales. You want to make sure that you've got good relationships. They feel like they can talk to you as a real person and not just a you know, not just a business.
And that's something that my dad's taught me 'cause he's been in sales so much. he's like you wanna make sure that you're really personable and you can sell your product but you also wanna be somebody that they can just feel like they can talk to you like they were your best friend.
Jenny (32:50)
Yes. And I always say the same
thing, like in business, relationship building is everything. But like not in like a you must build relationships like a checkbox. Like it's it really is just about like liking pe
Amanda Keene (33:02)
It happens naturally.
Jenny (33:03)
Yes. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So on the subject of forming relationships, building relationships with your customers and becoming friends with them, I'm curious about how your marketing has changed over time because I know when you joined
The program, you wrote that you suspected you were spending way too much time
Amanda Keene (33:24)
Mm-mm.
Jenny (33:24)
making like Instagram reels. And then afterwards you told me you didn't realize how effective like email marketing could be. So tell me about what or if anything has changed about the way you approach marketing.
Amanda Keene (33:40)
I would say at the very beginning I thought that I had to spend a lot of money to market. And I
Jenny (33:47)
Woo.
Amanda Keene (33:48)
made I didn't I didn't make some real good decisions in the very beginning because we were new to the area, so I thought, well I have to market my business and I have to pay for things so that my name will get out. And I learned that that wasn't so. And I know that
If you have time to make Instagram reels and to market your business in that way, then go for it. But I don't have time to make reels. I just it takes me forever. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but and it's just not my thing. I can make a reel and it doesn't have any effect on my business. Zero for me. And I can send out an email, or make a Facebook post and it has way better feedback.
And email especially is way better than even Facebook for me. But word of mouth if you have been, you know, to farmers markets or just being involved in things in your community, word of mouth goes a long way. And if you have a good product and people like their product, they're going to share
with other people about it. You know, they're gonna say, I got my flowers from, you know, Amanda. So they're gonna want to share if they really liked it. And I always encourage people to you know, tag us and, you know, share on social media if you want to and just people mentioning us and telling other people about it has actually been
almost more helpful than me doing all of the marketing myself.
And it's been
Jenny (35:37)
No.
Amanda Keene (35:38)
a relief because I I just don't have time. I'm so behind on my posts and everything like that because I have a wedding next week and I have just so many things. Plus my daughter's getting married in November and there's just a lot of things going on that I have to focus on those things, you know, and you know, posting and all that kind of stuff gets pushed pushed behind. Even though I wish I could do it more, but
Jenny (36:05)
No, but what you're saying it makes so much sense. You're really putting your efforts into the places where you know you're getting a return instead of just like continuing to spend how many hours a week making Instagram reels when it it's not actually bringing you business. And I think so many of us get caught in this like hamster wheel of like I have to post on Instagram, I have to post on Instagram. But just because that's what everybody else does, right? But if it's not
Amanda Keene (36:29)
Right.
Jenny (36:29)
actually getting you the result, like don't.
Why bother? Or, you know, why put so much effort into it? Put your time and effort into what's actually going to get you the result, which you're super smart and you have already done that. And so I know you said that when you started emailing your customers after the program, like you saw like an immediate, huge jump. I think you said you got like a thousand dollar order or something like within a week.
Amanda Keene (36:53)
Mm.
Jenny (36:53)
And then it sounds like that's been a really good place for you to focus your time and your energy into.
Amanda Keene (37:00)
Yes. just like even just sending like what do I wanna say? Like sort of like a blog post of, you know, what's going on during the week or I'll write about the ducks, you know, something that isn't necessarily flower related, but it's just something funny that, you know, I used to be a blogger years and years ago. Yes.
Jenny (37:24)
really?
Amanda Keene (37:25)
and
I used to blog all the time before Instagram and Facebook because I homeschooled so I wanted to make sure I kept a journal about it so that I would know what I did throughout the years and post pictures and projects and stuff like that so I could refer back to it if I ever needed to and lo and behold ten years later we have another kid. So it was very helpful so I can refer back now and you know see what we did years ago and then you know we're repeating a lot of it. but emailing there's my customer demonstration.
demographic is a lot of people that like to email and a lot of them are on Facebook. Not a lot of them are I'm getting more on Instagram but not as many as, you know, at the beginning. Most of my customers are, you know, Facebook people and ones that like to be on email. And so once you learn your demographic, I think you can kind of I I think that helps a lot.
Jenny (38:22)
Yeah. And I also wanna just briefly come back to what you said about how you're writing about your ducks in your newsletter. That is like the secret
Amanda Keene (38:29)
Mm-hmm.
Jenny (38:30)
sauce that gets people like to know you and to form a relationship with them because you're really writing about real life every day, what's happening on the farm, what's happening in your life. And that like that's something we do a lot in our
Amanda Keene (38:44)
Yeah.
Jenny (38:44)
farm newsletters too, is we just tell like stories about things that have happened on the farm. And quite honestly.
Most of the time, it's not even really about the flowers. and so
Amanda Keene (38:53)
Yeah.
Jenny (38:54)
I love that you said that because I think this will probably help some people listening. Just give them permission to just be like don't put so much pressure on like your email newsletters, just talk about whatever's happening on the farm. And then on
Amanda Keene (39:07)
Yeah.
Jenny (39:08)
on the same subject as your blogging and everything, it just made me think about your homeschooling and your kids and
I feel like a theme throughout this conversation is you really building the business to fit that lifestyle you actually want to support. So I'm curious what you have to say about like homeschooling your kids, it it
Amanda Keene (39:28)
Mm-hmm.
Jenny (39:30)
how that fits into all of this as well. Because I think there probably are a large audience of people listening that are interested in doing that too, or maybe are doing that as well.
Amanda Keene (39:41)
I mean, we were homeschooling first, like I said, before we were flower farming. this is my sixteenth year homeschooling and I mean it's one of those things that you have to commit to early on if you want to keep going at it, but even if you haven't been doing it that long, you can do it at any point, you know. but on a like
Incorporating both of the two, is that what you want to know?
Jenny (40:12)
Yeah, like how how is that I guess what would be some tips you would give people who are wanting to design a business around that, like you have?
Amanda Keene (40:27)
Find out how much extra time it's going to require you. Like, I didn't realize when I started my flower farm how much time it was actually gonna take to just do everything.
you know, I try to do most of my business stuff after everybody else goes to sleep and that's, you know, ten o'clock at night. And so then I'm working three or four hours after that, plus getting up early. So I'm really short on sleep. And so that's not really good for you l long term, you know. So figure out how much time it's really gonna require you and kind of
balance that with how much time you want to spend educating, you know, there's different ways of homeschooling by far. There's so many. You know, it you I gear our home schooling around pretty much what the kids are
kind of interested in. Like we have set curriculum, we have set hours because of what's required of us in Missouri and all that kind of stuff. But I make sure that
I have my time invested in them. That is required of me, especially for education, first, and then I try to fit all of the flower stuff in, you know, kind of around all of that. and early on when I started I didn't like I didn't feel like I was doing a really good job in that way. And
I n you know, two years into it, my husband was like, We need to really sit down and talk about we need to talk about this because, you know, we want to make sure that you are, I don't know, just keep, you know, staying focused, I guess. Is I didn't want to lose my focus on what I had promised my kids and my family early on, which was to to educate them
give them the best education that I could. And I guess I was, you know, I'll admit it I was a little selfish and I I wanted to do what I wanted to do and it was it's hard to take that realization and and flip it. You know, like this is something that I committed to a long time ago and I need to stick with it. And it's hard trying to balance business and
I mean, it's hard to balance business and life, but you throw home schooling in it too. It's difficult because, I mean our oldest is out of the house now, but when she was at home too, I had you know, I had two high schoolers and then a toddler and now I've got a second grader and a senior, so but there's, you know, totally different subjects being taught and learned and
Sec you know, second grade math and physics. Way into the spectrum.
Jenny (43:30)
I
I don't think my brain could handle doing that, both of those at the same time, because they both sound hard to me right now.
Amanda Keene (43:36)
Yeah. Yeah.
Jenny (43:39)
But what I'm hearing from you is that you decided that you had important commitments in your life, and that you have really built the business to fit around it. And this is the lifestyle that you really want for you and your family. And I
Am I right in hearing that? Yeah.
Amanda Keene (43:59)
Yes, yes.
Jenny (44:01)
And I think that for a lot of people listening, like maybe it's not
Amanda Keene (44:04)
Yeah.
Jenny (44:05)
homeschooling your kids. Maybe you just have young children at home and you're balancing
Amanda Keene (44:09)
Yeah.
Jenny (44:09)
that with another job. Or maybe you have an elderly parent that you're taking care of right now. Or maybe you
Amanda Keene (44:15)
Yeah.
Jenny (44:15)
just have for whatever thing you have going on in your life, or you you might have going on in your life in the future. I just want to say, like Amanda, you are living proof that
you can do this and that you can make it happen. And your business seems to be thriving right now, even when you have all these other priorities happening in your life. And so I just love that. And I think that you're such an inspiration. You are to me. And I know you are to a lot of other flower farmers. So like I just want you to know that I think you're doing an amazing job.
Amanda Keene (44:47)
Thanks. I we are a
we're a praying family and so a lot of the decisions that I make I pray about and God takes care of us through everything. When I think I and this year especially I've like thought, okay, I've got to cut back in doing these things and I think, I should post about, you know, the flower bouquet I just sent back to the the bride and lo and behold I will get an email that says can I book for this
weekend can you come pick up flowers to preserve for me and I don't need to be on Facebook and like doing that because it's all getting taken care of and like I can't it's so awesome to see it and just having the faith that it will work out if it's supposed to and you just have to you just have to kind
Just rely on that. And my husband has been a very
What do I wanna say? He's been very good about reminding me to just have that faith.
Jenny (46:06)
I think having that faith and that support is incredibly important whenever you're trying to do something well, really whenever, but especially when you're trying to do something that's difficult or that's big, which starting a business is, starting a flower farm is, have you know,
Amanda Keene (46:19)
Yes.
Jenny (46:20)
all of the things that you're doing all require that support and that faith. And so I I just love everything that you're doing. I think that you're an inspiration to a lot of other people.
And I'm curious what you would say to someone right now, maybe someone who's in your position where you were a few years ago, who maybe knows that they can grow beautiful flowers. They want to build a business, whether it's a side hustle or a full-time thing, but maybe there's some things holding them back, like they don't really know how to make it fit the lifestyle that they want, or they don't really understand.
their numbers or what's actually profitable or what's worth taking up space
Amanda Keene (47:02)
Mm mm.
Jenny (47:02)
in their farm, like what would you tell them?
Amanda Keene (47:08)
if you can afford it, I would totally take a class to help at the very beginning as far as all the numbers go. I did not find you at the beginning, when I wish I would have. I did like a long time ago, you used to have these crop data sheets.
that were printable. Okay. I and
Jenny (47:31)
We still have Yeah.
Amanda Keene (47:33)
I used to print those out and use those and that was before you had the class and I wish I could have taken the class sooner and just gotten all of the business and the numbers, you know, together. kind of done that early on. I wish I would have started smaller, not tried to be so big, so quickly because it just
I feel like I could have done better if I would have just started smaller at the beginning. and I another thing is like keep your kids involved. Like always, even if you have a little one, have them wrapped around you. Try to carry them if you can. Put them in the stroller. Take them out with you. Let them play in the dirt while you're working because they're learning right alongside of you. They want to be with you. They
need to be with you. They can learn. Even if they're playing in the dirt, it's they're they're with you. They're learning. You can talk, you can sing, you can anything. It's just that time that you can spend with your kids when they're little because they're not little for long. They time flies by and that's just
something
that
You don't wanna
Sorry, you don't wanna
Miss.
Jenny (49:06)
There are more important things than flowers.
Amanda Keene (49:10)
So
Jenny (49:13)
Amanda, you are incredible. So, to sum up what she said, take a class. She wished she started smaller. Keep your kids involved.
Amanda Keene (49:25)
I realized this last year more so than ever what flower farming has taught me is that no amount of money or time can replace
What you have if you have a family.
Jenny (49:37)
So true.
Amanda Keene (49:37)
But
Jenny (49:38)
So, Amanda, I just want to say thank you so much for being here today and for taking the time and for sharing your story, which is such an inspiration.
We'll be sure to link Amanda's social media and her website in the show notes if you want to follow along with her Thank you so much, Amanda, for being here with me today.
Amanda Keene (49:57)
Thank you so much, Jenny.
Jenny (49:59)
And if you've been listening to Amanda's story thinking, okay, but how do I actually figure out what's worth my time on my farm? What's actually profitable on my farm? What should I be growing, selling, or marketing differently? Because every farm is different, right? But that is exactly what we help you figure out inside of six-figure flower farming, which is my six-week business program. Enrollment for six-figure flower farming is open October 13th through the 22nd. And to celebrate, I'm hosting a completely
Free training for flower farmers where I will show you how to start earning more from your farm next season without working more, without adding more crops, more sales outlets, or more hours to your already very full plate. Because remember, we don't want our broccoli touching our mashed potatoes, right? You can grab your free spot now at trademarkfarmer.com forward slash training. And again, that's trademarkfarmer.com forward slash training. I'm only teaching this live three times in October.
So grab your spot now and I'll see you there. And also hope to see you next week for another episode. Don't forget we publish new ones every single Monday. So we'll see you then.
